ATHENS, Greece, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The consortium behind a natural gas pipeline planned for Europe announced it submitted an environmental assessment to Greek authorities.
The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline group said the objective of its Environmental and Social Impact Assessment was to review the potential environmental, cultural and socioeconomic impacts of the pipeline.
A BP-led consortium working in the second phase of the giant Shah Deniz natural gas field off the coast of Azerbaijan in June selected TAP as its conduit for European consumers.
The project is part of the so-called Southern Gas Corridor, a network of pipelines planned to add diversity to a European market dependent on Russian natural gas.
The consortium said it submitted the ESIA to the Greek government after working four years on "intensive" route refinement in the country.
"I am very pleased with the submission," TAP regional chief Rikard Scoufias said in a statement Wednesday. "It constitutes the culmination of years of intense work by national Greek and international experts, in close cooperation with relevant authorities as well as the communities along TAP's route in Greece."
TAP will connect to a pipeline near the Turkish border with Greece and cross through the Adriatic Sea before it heads to European markets from Italy. It would deliver gas by 2019.
